317 toxins
by Septdeneuf
Summary: Chopper's mind was racing. There had been several possible diagnoses left when he'd taken his samples, none of them good, but he would probably have been able to do something about most of them. Not this one.
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes Chopper really envied other doctors, who had an nice little practice, saw a few patients who had scrapes, bruises or colds and who would actually be listened to if they prescribed bed rest.

Not that he would trade being a pirate for anything in the world, but damn this could get stressful.

"Stop moving", he instructed their favorite swordsman for what seemed like the millionth time. "Luffy stop picking at your stitches, and Sanji, if you light that cigarette you will not like the consequences!"

Because of course there had to be a devil's fruit user who had the power to give people injuries from their own future. And of course they had to run into them. And of course all of their three main fighters had to be hit by it, and completely fail to acknowledge that they were patients for the time being. Because each one of them would probably shrug off decapitation as "just a scratch" if it came to that, so Chopper had to make sure they behaved and…

He smelled smoke.

"Sanji!", he yelled, trying to simultaneously not drop the stitch he was doing on Zoro's thigh and turn around to glare menacingly at their resident cook, who tried to look as nonchalant as possibly while pretending his head wasn't surrounded by a cloud of tobacco scented smoke.

"Oh come on, Chopper, I don't even need to be here. See, there's no bleeding anywhere", Sanji said, lifting his arms to gesture at himself. "My future self is more careful than these two idiots so I'm fine"

"Oi ero-cook, you're the biggest idiot here", Zoro said with a sneer. Also shifting slightly in his seat which made Chopper mess up the stitch again. The little doctor really wished the natural sound reindeer made was more intimidating because all his attempts at growling were steadily ignored.

"Want me to make sure your injuries are worse than mine, Marimo?", Sanji said, lifting his leg threateningly. When had he even stood up? Chopper must've missed it, busy as he was with trying to make sure Zoro didn't bleed to death. Which Zoro didn't seem to consider much of a problem.

"No fighting in the infirmary! And no smoking! And Sanji, sit back down, even if you're not bleeding on the outside I am the doctor and I decide whether or not you're free to go. And Luffy put that down, that's not for eating!" Chopper yelled at the three of them, switching to heavy point (which made him lose his thread again) to try and be heard better.

"Sorry", Luffy said putting back the jar of salves that he'd thankfully not yet put into his mouth. Sanji sat back down grumbling and Zoro just leant back with a scoff.

"And didn't I tell you you were free to go like ten minutes ago?", Chopper asked. Secretely he was wondering if he had, because with all the chaos in the infirmary (and more patients waiting outside…) he suspected it might have slipped his mind.

"Yeah, when you were done stitching me up", Luffy declared happily.

"So why are you still here?"

"I'm huuungryyy", Luffy suddenly wailed. "So you need to fix Sanji."

"I don't even need any fixing", Sanji said, making to get up again. "I can make you something right now."

"That's not for you to decide", Chopper snapped. "Luffy, out! Sanji, sit your ass back down and if the next time I turn around that cigarette is still lit you're getting a prostate exam at all your future physicals!"

Sanji made a face, and finally stubbed out his cigarette as he flopped back down onto the examination table. Luffy

"Heh", Zoro remarked, which just set Sanji off all over again. Chopper took a moment to wonder what exactly he'd done to deserve this as he heard Brook remark through the partially ajar door that his radial fracture would probably be bleeding quite profusely if only he was still capable of bleeding.

Ten minutes later Chopper had finally managed to shove Luffy out of the door, with Franky promising Sanji that he'd keep him out of the fridge as long as the cook was held up, and he'd finally applied the last few stitches to Zoro (really, he would've been done ages ago if only people would stop interrupting him). Finally turning to Sanji he found him fiddling with his lighter again, so Chopper turned on his best scowl as he went to treat him.

Which wasn't at its most impressive because he'd converted to brain point again.

"Really Chopper, I don't even need to be here, I don't even have any broken bones, I can tell", Sanji insisted, but much more calmly now that Chopper had sent Zoro away.

"I believe you. But you coughed up blood when you were hit, you could be bleeding into your lungs", Chopper cautioned. The cook was probably right about the bones, though, he definitely had enough experience with those by now. "Take off your shirt."

"Just the once though", Sanji said, undoing his buttons. "If I'm bleeding into my lungs shouldn't that happen more?"

"Not necessarily. There's all sorts of things coughing up blood could indicate, so you should just let me be the judge of that", Chopper said. He took out his stethoscope and rubbed on it a little to warm it up.

"All right, do your Doctor thing", Sanji said. He shrugged off his shirt and folded it on the cot next to him.

"Take deep breaths through your mouth", the little doctor instructed. He hopped onto the examination table and pressed his stethoscope to the cook's back, listening to his breath sounds.

The left lung sounded normal everywhere, and Chopper was already thinking of other causes, something gastrointestinal maybe, when he heard it.

Or rather didn't hear it. For a moment he thought something was wrong with his stethoscope. He lifted it up and looked at it critically for a moment, before putting it back down.

"Something wrong?", Sanji asked just as Chopper pressed the stethoscope to his back again and that made his voice reverberate through the little reindeers very bones.

"Don't talk while I have this in!", Chopper yelled, fighting the urge to slap Sanji for the transgression. The cook was his patient right now, after all, so that would be a bit counterproductive, no matter how much it made the doctor's ears hurt.

"Sorry", the cook mumbled.

Chopper put the stethoscope back down and listened more closely. "Deep breaths", he instructed again. The upper corner of the right lung sounded normal, and so did the base, but there was a spot in the middle lobe without any sound at all. Or rather, paying closer attention to it, Chopper thought that there were sounds, but very muffled.

Missing breath sounds would usually indicate a collapsed lung, but lungs didn't collapse in parts. The entire left half would be quiet if that were the case, sounds missing from one bit only… Chopper's mind was already buzzing with differential diagnoses, but he tried to remind himself there were more benign explanations than those he was coming up with.

There had to be, even if he couldn't think of any right now.

"Turn around", Chopper said, and proceeded to listen to Sanji's lungs from the front- The left side really was fine, but he could hear the muffled noise on the right side from this angle, too, even if it wasn't as quiet as it had sounded from the back.

He put his stethoscope higher and proceeded to listen to his heart sounds. Rhythm normal, aortic valve fine… pulmonic, too… tricuspid, mitral… everything normal.

"Any trouble breathing? Pain, any other symptoms?", Chopper asked as he put his stethoscope away and transformed to heavy point.

Sanji shook his head. "I've been telling you Chopper, I feel fine. Bit of anxiety Franky might not be able to keep Luffy out of the fridge, that count for anything?"

"Franky's a huge cool robot, have faith!", Chopper declared and Sanji chuckled at that. "Anyway, I have to examine you", Chopper said, proceeding to feel for lymph nodes. He found an enlarged one above the clavicle. "Does this hurt?", he asked as he poked it.

"No."

Chopper tried moving the node, and found it hard and immobile. Trying very hard to keep his face neutral, he did the same with some cervical nodes he found, with the same result. The list of possible causes for this was whittling itself down in his head and the pirate doctor was not happy with the options that left him with.

"Wait here, there's a test I want to run", Chopper said, and went to retrieve desinfectant and several biopsy needles.

"Can't you do that later? Lunch is getting late, and with the fight we didn't have time for a proper breakfast", Sanji said, looking at the door longingly.

"It won't even take five minutes", Chopper reassured the cook while he spread his supplies on the table next to him. He sprayed some disinfectant on Sanji's back and wiped it off, then followed up with some more that he left to soak in. While it did that he took some bandaids out of their wrappings and reading them.

"And what exactly are you doing?", Sanji asked, eyeing the two large needles next to him distrustfully.

"Just taking some samples", Chopper said and took one of the needles. "Don't worry it won't hurt", he assured. "Take a deep breath and hold it."

When Sanji held his breath Chopper said "slight pinch" and was glad that Sanji was facing forward so he couldn't see his doctor blush at the lie. He pushed the needle in, finding it sliding into a mass that did not feel like lung tissue. The cook winced, but mostly kept still, as Chopper aspirated some of the mass into his needle. He took it out and put it away when he was reasonably sure that he had enough and stuck one of the bandaids on the small puncture wound.

"That's what you call a slight pinch?", Sanji said, sounding a bit offended.

"Well, not normally, but you're really tough and strong so I thought it wouldn't be so bad… did I hurt you?", Chopper asked, his face the picture of innocence.

"Oh… uh, no, just surprised me a bit, is all", Sanji said, looking a bit put off.

"Oh, good, I was worried", Chopper said. "Anyway, I need another sample and then you can go." He looked at his kit and decided against the other needle. "I need a lymph node. Can you lie down?"

"What do you need a lymph node for?", Sanji asked as he lay down.

"Just to check something, don't worry", Chopper assured, trying not to let on how worried he was himself. "I can get you some local anasthetics, but that'll take a bit to take effect, and I know you want to get back to cooking…"

"It's fine, just do your thing", Sanji said.

"Okay, thanks, don't worry, I'll be real quick", Chopper promised as he proceeded to disinfect the spot where he'd found the lymph node above the clavicle. Sanji looked at the wall when Chopper picked up his scalpel. He didn't move when the doctor used some quick and efficient slices to free the lymph node. Chopper took it out gently, and then put on another band aid. All in all it took barely 30 seconds, and Chopper couldn't help but be proud of himself for that.

"Okay, all done", he said and collected his samples. "You can go now", he announced with a hopefully convincing smile as he switched back to brain point.

"Okay, thanks", Sanji said and sat up. He slipped back into his shirt and knotted his tie. As he took his jacket he looked as if he was about to ask something, but then decided against it. "Lunch'll probably be in an hour."

Chopper nodded that he'd heard, but he'd already put all his samples in front of the microscope and wasn't really listening anymore. He transformed back to brain point, because he felt more comfortable at the microscope in that form.

He took out a bit of glass and smeared the cells he'd got from the mass onto it, and proceeded to cut the lymph node into small slices, putting them on individual glasses as well. He then spent some time putting on various chemicals to color the samples so their structure would be visible under the microscope.

He did his best to focus on the technical aspects, but whenever the coloring needed to soak he found his mind drifting to what he might find. He kept reminding himself that this was the grand line, so even a seemingly obvious diagnosis could turn out to be something vastly different, but…

Again and again he stopped himself from being too pessimistic, but that just made him all the more nervous when his smear was finally properly prepared and he turned on the light on his microscope to see.

His stomach dropped at what he saw, and he blinked away the tears that had sprung up in his eyes. He turned the dial on the side to refocus, but that didn't change the vast amount of small, purple cells so close together that it looked like they barely had any cytoplasm. And even without counting he knew the mitosis rate was incredibly high.

He switched out the samples and took a look at the lymph node he'd biopsied. He let out a small whimper when he saw the same pattern there, cells that had no reason to be there. It wasn't surprising, not with this type of… but what it meant for the prognosis was devastating. Considering where he'd found it, he knew this was just the tip of the iceberg.

His mind was racing. There had been several possible diagnoses left when he'd taken his samples, none of them good, but he would probably have been able to do something about most of them.

Not this one.

Of course out of all the things it could've been it was the worst one. Of course, because… the world just sucked that way sometimes. His mind was racing with possible things to do, but he knew there was only one real option.

He didn't even turn off the light on his microscope before dashing out of the door.

"We have to go back!", he yelled as he entered the kitchen, spotting Nami at the table.

"What? Back where?", Nami asked, confused. Luffy and Franky who were sitting next to her looked just as confused. Zoro, who was sleeping in the corner didn't stir and Sanji kept stirring in his pot.

"Back to that island, as soon as possible", Chopper said, panting.

"We can't just go back. The log pose is already set for the next island, we used a coup de burst to get out of there. If you forgot something I'm sure we can find a replacement somewhere else", Nami said.

"No, we have to find that Devil's fruit user and make her take back what she did", Chopper said. He was struggling not to start sobbing and his voice quivered bcaus of that.

"Why? We're all fine, now", Zoro pointed out. Apparently he hadn't been quite as asleep as he looked.

"No, you and Luffy are fine 'cause you got injuries I can stitch up, but…" Chopper took a deep breath, trying to fight down the tears because he knew that wouldn't make what he had to say next any easier.

"Sanji got cancer!"

* * *

A/N: Thanks for making it this far! I'm a med student and I have this bad habit of always thinking of my favorite characters when learning about bad diseases. And this is the result of that.

For some reason the One Piece fandom makes me feel incredibly self conscious because I feel like all my contributions are incredibly superfluous and aren't really needed among everything that's already there.

But I felt like posting this, anyway, because why not? Maybe someone might like it.

So let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Chopper's last word reverberated through the kitchen, leaving a stunned silence in their wake. Or possibly the kitchen went noisy, Sanji really couldn't tell because all he could hear was the word 'cancer' echoing around in his brain.

The dull plop of his wooden spoon in the stew was Sanji's only indication that he'd dropped it, and he looked at it in question as it sank into the lazily bubbling liquid. There was something he needed to do, the spoon was supposed to be in his hand, wasn't it?

"Cancer?", Nami-san echoed incredulously and it was the first time her lovely voice had ever sounded shrill to Sanji's ears.

There was a sniffling sound behind him, and Sanji realized that he should probably turn around and listen to what was being said, because Chopper had mentioned his name, and cancer, and this was probably important, even if the cook's comprehension of that was lagging severely behind the really bad feeling that was making his insides feel like ice. His hands were shaking when he went to turn down the heat on the stove. Odd, they hadn't been doing that before.

He turned around slowly, saw tears run down Chopper's cheeks and didn't really see anything else.

"What?", he asked softly, barely hearing his own voice.

The little doctor sniffed loudly. "Small cell lung cancer, it's metastasized, those lymph nodes aren't where that tumor would drain and they're full of tumor cells, so that means the tumor must've metastasized elsewhere, too, I can't really tell where without more tests, and I don't have all the equipment, but of course that matters for the prognosis…" Chopper said quickly, the most of his medical terms washing right over Sanji without him understanding much at all.

"So what… is this why you poked me with that needle?", Sanji asked, doing his best to catch up to what was being said.

"Yes, the breath sounds indicated a mass so I biopsied it, and it's small cell that's the worst kind… and…" Chopper was talking way too fast, or maybe Sanji was thinking too slowly.

"Mass… so there's a thing there that shouldn't be there… can't you just cut it out?", Sanji asked.

"Uh no, that wouldn't help, because it's already spread, that's what metastasized means. I can't cut it out because I don't know where else it is, so a surgery wouldn't make the problem go away and surgery carries risk, it might make you worse so it's not a good idea", Chopper said.

"But… but I don't even feel sick. Are you sure about this?", Sanji asked. He put his hands in his pockets because they were still shaking, but that was something else, right?

"Well, you didn't have anything a few hours ago, most of the symptoms come from the body's reaction to the disease, and since you got it so suddenly you don't feel anything yet, but you'll probably start experiencing symptoms pretty soon, I don't really know how quickly, I've never heard of anyone just getting an advanced tumor out of nowhere."

"Can't you give him medicine? Isn't there that stuff where people lose their hair?", Franky asked, suddenly reminding Sanji that there were people other than himself and Chopper present.

"I don't have any of that and I don't have the resources to make it, either. It's really complicated to make and I don't think there's many islands in the new world where you could find it. And it wouldn't be able to cure it the cancer, either, it can only delay the progression and sometimes there's non responders and…" Chopper seemed to be speeding up while talking until he finally seemed to trip over his own words and took a deep breath. He continued a tad more calmly, "The only way is to get that devil's fruit user to undo what she did."

"What if she can't? What if we don't find the island again, what happens then?", Nami-san asked, looking at Chopper skeptically.

"We have to!", Chopper wailed, looking visibly distressed at the idea.

"Yes, you said that, but I want to know how bad this is", Nami insisted. "You've just been spewing medical jargon at break neck speed the entire time, try to put this into perspective for the rest of us."

"Really bad", Chopper said, pressing his front hooves together and looking down at the floor. "With these findings… it's hard to be sure because I don't have the equipment here for all the tests, like I said, but…" The little reindeer swallowed heavily before he continued. "With findings like these he would have… four weeks… maybe six at the most."

Sanji found a chair gently being pressed to the back of his legs, which was good because they were about ready to give out, anyway. Sanji hadn't even noticed Franky lead him to the table. He wanted to thank the cyborg, but he felt like his face was frozen, and forming words was impossible.

"That's not gonna happen", Luffy declared. "We're going back to that island!"

"Right", Nami said softly, "I'll… I'll figure something out."

She got up from the table looking back at Sanji with a look he didn't know how to interpret right now and left the galley.

And promptly walked back in. "There's a storm coming, guys, we need everyone on deck."

Storm… oh hey, that was something tangible, something real, something that they could do something about. When everyone got up to take care of the ship Sanji stood up, too. It was mostly automatic, if the storm was bad everyone needed to lend a hand.

"Whoa, cook-bro, maybe you better sit this one out", Franky advised, putting one of his massive hands on Sanji's shoulder.

"I feel fine right now", Sanji protested. "And doing something will probably help me clear my head."

"Well, if you're sure", Franky said, looking to Chopper for confirmation, but Sanji didn't wait for that and just breezed past them out the door. He was suddenly filled with a nervous energy and the need to do something, anything to dispel this feeling in his gut, so he stepped outside and went to work securing some knots.

Everyone else came out of the galley. Luffy was bouncing and seemed mostly unfazed by both the storm and Chopper's revelation. Maybe he'd just decided that both were problems they would solve, so why worry?

All the others looked at him with varying degrees of concern but none of them made a move to stop him or to send him back to the galley.

It was only then that Sanji was reminded that the marimo had been present for the entire conversation. He'd completely forgotten about him being there and he hadn't said anything to remind him. The swordsman shot Sanji a strange look as he excited the galley, one that Sanji didn't really know how to interpret, but before he could pay more thought to it, the entire ship lurched and all of the cook's attention focused on the storm.

* * *

When the storm finally died down, Sanji found himself a quiet corner at the aft deck and took a slightly soggy cigarette out of the packet. It took several tries to light it up but eventually he managed it.

He looked out at the sea that still looked troubled and reflected on how dealing with the storm really hadn't calmed him down all that much, either. His hands were shaking slightly.

What a shitty thing to happen. He should probably get down to the galley soon and rescue the spoon he'd dropped in the stew and he needed to finish lunch, anyway, it was late as it was.

But he needed to sort his thoughts a bit before he could concentrate on cooking again.

Cancer.

Shit.

6 weeks, at the most optimistic.

That wasn't really enough time to find All Blue and they weren't even heading in the right direction. They were going back to the island where this had happened and if that somehow failed to save him, then he was very likely to die without ever having seen the All Blue.

At least that sort of helped against a fear he secretly had. Traveling all his life, never finding anything and eventually giving up. And wasn't that more painful than dying still hoping?

Or they'd just go back to the island, have him cured and everything would be fine.

The storm had probably carried them quite far off their initial course, so they couldn't really follow the course of the log pose back to where they'd come from.

Then again, Nami-swan was an absolutely splendid navigator and doubting her even for a second was a big no for the cook. So they'd find the island, he'd have a few shitty days in the mean time, and then he'd be cured and this whole thing would be nothing but an annoying detour in the end.

He took another drag from his cigarette, looking out at the water.

And he started coughing.

It passed quickly, just a little irritation with the smoke. He barely ever had any problems of that sort, he was so used to the cigarettes that…

That's when he finally realized it. How he hadn't made that connection earlier, right away, really, was beyond him.

He was such an idiot.

Which chain smoker had ever been diagnosed with lung cancer without it even occurring to him that his smoking habit might be responsible for it?

Sanji stared at the cigarette between his fingers, the little white cylinder polluting the air around him and in his lungs just like hundreds of others before it. And like so many more in the future, apparently.

Really, couldn't he have just gotten a big cut like the marimo? Or maybe a bleed in his brain or something if it was something that was supposed to kill him?

Why did he not only have to be killed slowly, but also prove everyone who had ever mentioned his smoking to him right? No one had said anything, yet, but he could just hear all the "I told you so"'s echoing in his brain, already. Especially from people that weren't even here.

Zeff had kicked the shit out of the cook who'd given Sanji his first cigarettes when he'd found out and followed it up with a huge speech to the little eggplant about how bad smoking was, and how many different pieces of furniture he'd find his face kicked into if he was caught doing it again.

And that had just made it more appealing to the little cook who'd resigned himself to never chasing after his dream in favor of helping the old man run the Baratie. It had spoken to his rebellious streak over time he'd even started liking the taste.

He'd lost count of how many people had told him that smoking was bad for him and how he really should quit. Every doctor he'd ever spoken to, for instance. With the possible exception of Dr. Kureha who'd just sneered at him, before punching the cigarette straight out of his mouth.

Pretty much every medical checkup he'd ever had with Chopper had ended that way, no matter if he was there for treatment after a huge battle, getting medicine for a headache or just one of Chopper's (way too frequent) regular physicals. The reindeer had always looked at Sanji with those big brown eyes of his and said "You really should stop smoking!"

And he'd always reacted pretty much the same way. "Yeah, you're right." Which had never lead to him even trying to quit.

Of course he knew he should. But it never seemed like something immediate, that commanded a lot of attention, it was more of a long term thing, one day he'd just get around to it.

But apparently his future self, or at least that devil's fruit user's prediction of him never had, and now he was paying the price early.

Shit. Really, what else was there to say?

He realized that he'd been staring at his cigarettes for several minutes, too spaced out to really see it, and decided to flick it over board. It probably wouldn't really make much of a difference. He already had cancer, what harm would a cigarette more do? But for now, at least his need to smoke had vanished quite abruptly and resolutely.

Honestly what would the shitty geezer say if he knew about this? Oh the I told you so…

That probably wouldn't be all the shitty geezer would think, but Sanji chose not to think about anything further, because really, he just wasn't prepared dealing with possible emotions from the old fart right now, even if they were only imagined.

And they would stay that way. The shitty geezer would never know (especially not in a letter explaining why his little eggplant wouldn't be coming home… _no, don't go there!_). Because it just wasn't going to be that big an issue. They'd get back to the island, have the fruit's powers reversed and this would all just turn into a shitty learning experience.

Some stupid shitty mass of crap was not going to bring down Black Leg Sanji. He would not stand for that. A heroic sacrifice to save his nakama from some unimaginably powerful opponent, maybe, suffocating in a beautiful lady's bosom, sure, but cancer? Hell no.

And besides, he still felt fine, even after going through that shitty storm. How bad could this whole cancer thing really be?

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! You guys really helped out my self esteem in this fandom. I'm going to try putting this on a roughly weekly update schedule, feel free to kick me if I fail.

My lack of it probably stems from trying to get into the fandom on tumblr and just getting no reaction at all, makes you feel a little unneeded.

But anyway, thanks for reading and I'd love to hear what you thought. Also I started writing another story about mpreg from a medical point of view. Some elements are a bit similar to this story, so I'm not sure whether or not to post it, would that be something people are interested in?

Anyway, Happy Holidays!


	3. Chapter 3

Under normal circumstances Nami liked the Grand Line. From a navigating standpoint at least. The log pose system was straightforward, but all the unforeseen and unique challenges that the Grand Line liked to present were both exciting and terrifying.

She loved the sense of achievement she gained from mastering these challenges, though. Flying up a knock up stream, taking a ship to the ocean floor, all of these were things she would always remember fondly, no matter how stressful they were at the time.

Now, though, she was frustrated. She'd spent almost all night up looking for her almanac and her sextant, and all she'd found so far was the old compass she'd used to navigate by when she was still back in East Blue. It seemed to be mocking her, just spinning round and round merrily without a care in the world. If it would only decide to show north again that would be a huge help, but no. No it preferred pretending it was a merry-go round for no other reason than to annoy Nami.

Well also because of all the magnetic interference in the grand line and all that, but mostly to annoy her.

Stupid compass.

The library's floor was a mess of charts and maps and overall mayhem and her desk was even worse, but at least she'd managed to draw a pretty accurate map of the island they'd been at, and its relative location. She hadn't had time for a lot of charting there, what with running into a marine warship within hours of their arrival, but the map should be accurate enough.

Should be. She was not in the habit of doubting her navigational skills, but this time she felt a lot more nervous than usual. What if her estimation was off? What if they steered wrong and ended up several miles off and missed the island?

Then they'd have a dead cook.

_The map is good, stop doubting yourself, Nami_, she told herself, but that didn't really fill her with confidence. She'd done the best she could on the map, she knew that, but she was scared it might not be enough. What if her best just wasn't up to the task?

But that wasn't even the main problem. It didn't even matter if the map was right or not, if she didn't find the proper navigational equipment she needed to pinpoint their location on the water. Because without knowing where they were she'd have no chance at all at getting them to where they needed to go.

She'd tried to keep track, without the storm she probably would've been able to make a pretty accurate guess, but after they'd been thrown around the ocean for hours even she got too turned around to tell.

And afterwards, just to make it worse, the sky had stayed overcast and cloudy the entire night. So even if Nami had found the proper equipment and been able to measure their location based on stars there would've been no stars to be seen.

She knew exactly where all that stuff had been on the Going Merry. She'd regularly used all of it when they'd still been in East Blue, because when navigating by a map it was incredibly useful to know where you were.

When only knowing the direction where you were going but not your destination? It became less important. She did use it sometimes for her map making, but in the new world she hadn't had as much time to spend on it, there was always something in the process of going wrong, so the most important navigational challenge usually became "getting the hell out of there" in any given situation.

But she had used that stuff on the Sunny, in the New World, even, she was sure of that, but she wasn't sure when the last time was, and what had happened to distract her of what she'd been doing back then, because if she'd just used it normally and everything had turned out fine she would have put it back where it belonged.

She sifted through the mess she'd made for what felt like the millionth time. She picked up a piece of paper and thought it was Robin's because it was written in some unintelligible ancient script she couldn't read, until she realized she was holding it upside down.

"Good morning."

She sighed, putting the piece of paper back down on the floor where it really didn't belong and looked out the window. The clouds were lighter, now, but it was impossible to tell which direction the light was coming from, so she had no idea how the sun stood.

"Good morning."

And why wasn't the almanac just on the shelf? It was a book, for crying out loud, even if it wasn't in her section where it belonged, why couldn't she find it among the others? She'd been over it often enough.

"Nami-chan, are you alright?"

Maybe she was going about this all wrong. Maybe she should just stop going around in circle's, but then that's what happens when you're in a perfectly round room, and…

Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder.

Nami shrieked.

When she turned around she found Robin there with a cup of coffee in hand and a mildly amused expression on her face.

"Jeez, Robin, you nearly gave me a heart attack. You could've said something", Nami complained, trying to calm down her breathing.

"I did. Several times", Robin said.

Nami blinked at her. "Really?"

"Yes, really. You look like you've had a rough night. Maybe this would benefit you more than me", Robin suggested, handing her coffee mug out to the navigator.

"You're awesome, Robin, do people ever tell you that?", Nami asked as she took the cup gratefully. She usually didn't take her coffee black like the archaeologist did, but it was at just the perfect temperature and she knew she needed the caffeine really badly.

"Well, I'm more frequently called _super _or _lovely and divine_, but awesome does come up from time to time", Robin said with a smile. "Speaking of which, breakfast smells very nice and you look like you might appreciate some more coffee."

Thinking of the kitchen made her think of its primary occupant, though, and made Nami feel doubly guilty about her lack of progress.

"How is Sanji-kun?", Nami asked timidly.

"He hasn't shown any signs of illness yet, as far as I saw", Robin said.

"Well that's good, I guess. I just hope he stays fine long enough for me to find a way to get us back to that island", Nami said.

"I have full confidence in your ability, navigator-san", Robin said. "You should, too."

"Thanks", Nami said with a small smile. "Somehow I just don't feel all that confident right now. I feel like I'm killing Sanji-kun with every minute I waste."

"But you are aware that that's inaccurate? Realistically we can't be a lot more than a days' travel from that island, and going backwards along the Grand Line is a big challenge, it's not a problem that can be solved quickly" Robin reminded Nami.

"Well you're right, I guess", Nami said, picking herself up off the floor and walking over the ladder. "I've pretty much figured out where to go, But I need to figure out where we are, too. I can't find my sextant and my almanac and I need those. But even if I had those they're not really useful with that cloud cover."

"I'll help you look for them after breakfast, I'm sure a few more eyes can facilitate the search", Robin said. "As for the clouds, I'm sure you'll find a solution."

"Right", Nami said, patting her clima tact.

* * *

It just so happened that on the way down to breakfast they passed through the infirmary, and Nami found her Almanac on one of Chopper's book shelves. She hadn't even thought about those when she'd tried to think of a new place to look and hugged it to her chest overjoyed as soon as she got her hands on it.

"Nami might need some more coffee", Robin said when they entered the kitchen. Sanji-kun turned around and beamed at them.

"Right away Robin-chwan, some more for yourself, as well?", the cook offered. Other than a bit of bags under her eyes he looked just as healthy as he always did.

"Please", Robin said, and Sanji strode over to the table with the coffee pot in a flourish. "Breakfast will be ready in just a few minutes. May I just say how lovely the two of you look this morning?"

"Don't say that, I'm a mess", Nami said, after she'd sat down and started pouring milk in her cup.

"Nonsense, Nami-swan you always look radiant", Sanji-kun said with a smile as he filled her cup with coffee, that was of course perfectly brewed, just as always, before sauntering back to the oven to take out some equally perfect croissants.

He really was a sweet guy. Over the top and silly, but always nice and helpful, and she knew she would miss him so much if…

She was glad for her cup so she could hide behind it until she got the emotions welling up in her back under control.

It was probably the lack of sleep that was making itself known. There was no reason to imagine what it would be like if the cook were gone because they were going to save him, she was going to find that island and they'd make that devil fruit user take back what they did, and then everything would be fine.

She had no idea how often she would have to keep telling herself that before she'd start to believe it.

While she'd been thinking, the rest of the crew started trickling in, looking more or less sleepy. Usopp sat down next to her with a yawn and Franky followed after him. Brook, insufferable morning person that he was greeted everyone with a cheerful Yohoho.

"Hey Usopp, Franky, have either of you seen my sextant?", Nami asked. If you didn't know what it was it was easy to assume it might be something either of them needed in their workshops.

"Why are you looking for a sex thing, Nami?", Luffy asked as he came through the door. There was a choked noise from Sanji, and a guffawing laugh from Franky.

"It's a navigational instrument, captain-san", Robin explained with a smile.

"I think I might've seen it", Usopp said. "I'll help you look after breakfast."

"Thanks, that would be a great help, once I have that we just need to blow the clouds away and then I we can set course back to that island", Nami explained and took another sip from her coffee.

"Awesome, I knew you could do it", Luffy said with one of those huge grins of it, and Nami had to marvel once again at how easily Luffy's simple minded optimism could make her feel better.

* * *

The rest of breakfast passed in the usual straw hat style mayhem, and afterwards Usopp did help her find her sextant in record time. It really had ended up in Franky's workshop.

Now she was standing at the bow with Franky and Usopp facing a new problem. She'd just summoned a huge gust of wind with her clima tact which had blown away the cloud cover. Only to reveal…

More Clouds.

The sky was so overcast the cloud cover reached so high into the atmosphere that it was out of range for her weapon.

"This always worked on Weatheria", Nami complained. She was getting really tired of all the new stumbling blocks, first her uncertainy about her map, then her missing equipment and now this. The weather really should know better than to displease her, hadn't it learned anything over the last few years?

And even though she'd drunk enough coffee to drown a man in she still felt tired, only now more high strung, as if someone had propped her eyes open with matchsticks.

"Well that was a sky island, you were a lot higher up than this, all the clouds you blew away from there were way closer than they are now", Usopp said, thoughtfully. "What if Franky tries a coup de vent, would that work?"

Franky looked up at the sky. "No, the coup de vent is designed for high impact, not high range. It can't compete with the girl's weather stick."

"It's called clima tact", Nami said, somewhat offended.

"Okay well what about the coup de burst? Is there a way to aim it at the sky and blow the clouds away like that?", Usopp suggested.

"No, even if we could just aim it wherever, it's designed to propel the entire ship, if we aimed it upwards the recoil would send us to the ocean floor at top speed", Franky said, scratching his nose. His hair plopped out and settled into a question mark shape, reminding Nami of Mr. 3.

Nami rubbed her forehead trying to stop her headache. She felt like bursting into tears any moment. From the lack of both sleep and progress.

"Good point…", Usopp said, scratching the scruff on his chin thoughtfully. "What if you blow a coup de vent through the clima tact?"

"What?", Nami asked, staring at Usopp in disbelief.

"That could work… would definitely make the gust of wind a hell of a lot bigger than with the stick alone", Franky mused. He pressed down on his nose again and his hair turned into an exclamation point. Well actually it looked more like a long pole, but Nami supposed that was the idea behind it.

"Or it could blow the clima tact away into the middle of the ocean and then we're even more helpless against the clouds", Nami said.

"Right… well I'm sure I can build something to prevent that", Franky said. "Shouldn't be too hard, I've got some stuff lying around."

"Okay, so how about this, Franky goes to build something so he blows the clouds away, but not the clima tact, and Nami, you go to bed", Usopp said.

"But I can't, what if the cloud cover breaks on its own, I need to measure, then, the sooner the better."

"We'll wake you the instant that happens, don't worry. You can probably work a lot better and be less stressed when you've slept a bit, and we need you in top shape, alright?", Usopp said. He put a hand on her shoulder and started to guide her to the stairs leading down to the women's cabin.

Nami let him. She really did need the rest. And there wasn't really anything she could do until either Franky was done building or the clouds decided to get away on their own. Some sleep would be good for her.

And when she woke up they'd take their measurements, set a course, find the island, save their nakama, and then sail on to further adventures.

Simple, really.

* * *

A/N: I'd actually intended to have this chapter have both the navigation and some more medical issues, but Nami decided her issues needed more time, so instead you get this. Tune back in next week for more medicine!

I also want to thank you guys for your support and wish you a happy new year!

Let me know what you think! Also, if you need more medical drama in your life than this chapter provided you with, check out my other story "Choices" which has a whole lot of that.

See you all next year :)


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